When Bob Huckabee took over for the late Peter Looney as the new softball coach at Apponequet in 2012, he went to work on a three-year plan to return the Lakers to local prominence.

There was just one problem with that. The Lakers arrived a year early last season with a 14-6 regular season record and a co-championship with Case in the South Coast Conference.

"The kids made some really big strides in a short time and they exceeded my expectations," said Huckabee, who left a job as the head coach at Oliver Ames to take over in Lakeville. "I knew I had some talent to work with when I got here. I just didn't know things were going to come together so quickly. Last season ended up being a very pleasant surprise."

After the success the team enjoyed a year ago, this could be the breakout season that Huckabee has been working toward. The Lakers return six of nine starters, including three Standard-Times Super Teamers in senior pitcher/first baseman Alee Wright, junior pitcher/designated hitter Sarah Eugenio and junior third baseman Jill Miller.

Wright hit .571 and knocked in 29 runs last season while also putting together a 6-2 record and 2.83 earned-run average on the mound. Eugenio was 10-4 with a 1.77 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 99 innings of work and Miller finished with a .538 average and a team-high 32 RBIs.

"We're going to have another good team this season and everybody's excited to get going," Huckabee said. "We're not rebuilding, we're reloading and that says a lot about the kind of kids we have. They're hard workers who put the team first and that makes my job a lot easier."

Bishop Stang, which stormed to the Div. 2 South Sectional championship as the 13th seed, returns one of the top pitchers in the area in senior Hannah Carvalho, the 2013 Standard-Times Softball Player of the Year. Senior center fielder Courtney Carroll and junior left fielder Lindsey Florent are also back for what coach Dan Sylvia hopes is a breakout season in the Eastern Athletic Conference.

Dartmouth returns a terrific pitcher in senior Jill Sbardella and the Indians have some players with potential who will be getting their first taste of varsity action.

Fairhaven will be looking for more good things on the mound from senior pitcher Courtney Girouard, a Standard-Times Super Teamer who's been the Blue Devils' starter since she was a freshman, and GNB Voc-Tech returns a Super-Team pitcher in senior Sarah Perry, who also plays third base and will be throwing to senior catcher Jen Pires.

New Bedford returns a young team that had to overcome a bunch of injuries last season and sophomore pitcher Alex Soqui will be counted on to get off to a good start against a tough early schedule that includes matchups against Case, Bishop Stang, Taunton and Bridgewater-Raynham in four of its first five games to open the season.

Three players will be counted on to lead the way for Old Colony — pitcher Amanda Randall, catcher Brianna Botelho and first baseman Alex Aspden. They're the only seniors on a young team that's loaded with sophomores and will be looking to improve on last year's 10-11 record.

Kaleigh Goulart is back for her junior season on the mound at Old Rochester and the Lady Bulldogs have a young team that will get a lot of on-the-job training all over the field.

Wareham, which has a new coach in Janine Enos, returns a pair of experienced seniors in center fielder Breanna Muir and shortstop Gina Mendes and junior pitcher Rae-Lyn Pina will get the ball on a team that's going to have to play good defense and attack the ball at the plate while taking advantage of its speed on the bases.

Center fielder Katie Weizman is the only senior for Westport, which returns junior Khoryn Cote on the mound and junior Kylie Marcoux behind the plate. Sophomore newcomer Reaghan Tripp will take over in right field and first-year head coach Ariel Costa will need some time to settle on a consistent starting lineup with a roster of players who are young and need some time to build some experience and learn how to play the game.